For those of you who don’t know, the Saturday before Christmas I went to see Travis and the Kings of Leon in concert at the Alexandra Palace. It was an excellent concert, and by the time Christmas was over, I had gone and purchased the two most recent albums by Travis and the debut by Kings of Leon. Now I was going to review the Kings, but Andy.mack has already written a superb one, so it’s not really worth my while trying to top him! This meant my attention was turned to my trio of Travis albums (I already had one before my shopping spree) – “The Man Who” and “The Invisible Band” have both been covered numerous times, so my only option left was the album “12 Memories”, and here we are. This is my first music opinion, so please be gentle.

-=The Band=-
Fran Healy – Vocals, Guitar, Piano
Neil Primrose – Drums
Andy Dunlop - Guitar
Doug Payne - Bass

-=12 Memories=-
The first song on the album is “Quicksand”. Not be honest, this is not really one of their best songs – it’s a relatively slow number and is full of “hey, hey hey(s)” – it really gives the song a downbeat feel, a bit like sinking in quicksand I guess! It starts in a fairly upbeat manner with guitars/drums/piano all coming in at once and Fran Healy jumping in pretty soon after the music starts.

“…Everyday sinking in the quicksand
Follow me down the drain…”

Whilst listening to this I wish I was hiding in the drain. Well that is actually quite harsh – when I am not listening to this with a critical ear, it is actually okay. But just okay mind. It is mercifully short at only 2:39.

Next song up is “Beautiful Occupation”. This was the second single to be taken from the album, released back in December (2003). Another fairly upbeat song, with Travis’ usual drums and guitar mixture. Healy’s vocal are pretty quite on this song, letting the music doing most of the talking, as it were. The lyrics are pretty forgettable;

“…Beautiful Occupation
Don’t need an invitation…”

but the music will have you tapping your toe. Music is much “louder” when it comes to the chorus, and the gorgeous Fran sounds less lazy with his vocals. An okay song, better than the last one.

After that, we have Re-Offender, the first single to be taken from the album, released at the end of September. I actually quite like this song – a slow start with just a quite drumbeat and a tiny bit of guitar at the beginning, the song slowly builds with Fran’s voice gradually coming in, and the extra instruments, finally bursting into life for the chorus.

“You say you love me, then you do it again, you do it again
Say you’re sorry, then you do it again, you do it again”

When this song was played live, it sounded pretty amazing – you don’t get the same sense of suspense on a recording, but still pretty good. Surprisingly catchy.

Now I like this one just for the title – “Peace the F*** Out”. The crowd at the concert went mad for this song. Like many of Travis’ other songs, it is mainly just drums and guitar with Healy lazily adding his vocals over the top. This song is basically an anti-war song:

“The time has come to peace the f*** out”

The song ends with football fans from Celtic and Fulham chanting the song’s title over and over again. I think that this song improves with repeated listening – the words are pretty good; although not necessarily instantly memorable (apart from a certain line, obviously). A slow burner.

Sigh. The next one I don’t really like – “How many hearts”. Basically this is one of Travis’ formula, medium pace guitar and drums song. The song gets a bit more interesting at the chorus with more emphasis on the drums, but then they drop out again for the next verse. It is the longest song on the album at 4:46. I find it really boring, and I normally just skip over it before it gets to the end.

“Paperclips” is next. This is a really quiet number – only a tiny bit of guitar strumming (the tiniest bit of drum is added eventually), and Healy’s voice sounds really solitary.

“I don’t wanna be like you anymore”

He sounds a bit whiney in places, and it is another one that could be skipped over, although I prefer it to the last song.

Compared to the last song, this one sounds positively upbeat, but “Somewhere Else” is really just another medium paced number. I like this one, asides from the now familiar drums and guitar, there is a touch of xylophone that gives this song something extra. Again the words are a bit forgettable, but this is probably because Fran doesn’t scream the words over the top of the music. This is a pleasant number, which could be listened to repeatedly. I think that this song contains lyrics that sum up how most angst ridden teenagers feel:

“This life is so confusing
Feels like I’m always losing”

Actually, that is probably true for most adults too!

Moving on. Next is “Love will come through”. I think that this is one of the stronger tracks on the album, but that is not saying much. Starts with Drums and Guitar (again), and after a while Fran starts singing, with a relative amount of effort – he is practically passionate at one point! Like other tracks on this album, the words are pretty forgettable – they are more deep and meaningful than say J.Lo, but they don’t stick in the mind like a catchy bridge/chorus and a booty wiggle. I know I am being cynical, but I think that I am just being honest! The MTV generation have short memory spans don’t ya know!

“Mid-Life Krysis” is one of those songs that sound pretty good live, but pretty cr*p when listened to on a CD/Mp3/Tape or whatever. The song doesn’t really get going until the chorus bursts out of the stereo and onto your ears, but the good bits of the song disappear so fast it’s unreal. Another one to be skipped over. One of the lyrics says “don’t waste my time” – I agree. Fran sound really bored and downtrodden on this song. Fairly bland.

Okay we are getting fairly near the end of the album now. Next song is “Happy to Hang Around”. This is the song that they used to open their set at the concert I went to. Fran seems reluctant to start singing, but once he gets going I am reminded of the old Travis – I could envisage this sound being on their “The Man Who” album which was superb. Some serious guitar playing goes on towards the end of the track, and Fran puts much more effort into his singing!

Last track now – “Walking down the Hill”. What can I say? This is a poor end to a generally disappointing album.

-=Bonus Track=-
This song is just Healy and his piano, which at the concert he called his “go at being Liberace”. This song is actually very good, and I think that it should have been a main track on the album, instead of being hidden away, as it would have been a saving grace for some of the other dire songs! It’s a really simple melody and very touching.

So there we have it – the end of my first music review. I like Travis in general, but this album is really terrible in comparison to some of their other work. I would suggest that this album is only for die hard fans – it does sound better played live, but only mixed in with some of their other songs! I don’t think that there are any real “classics” here that will be played over and over again in years to come.

A disappointment.